Aerial tramways



oci. 3'1, 1967 L, CARLJER 3,349,721

AERIAL TRAMwAYs F11-ed April 19, 1965 2 sheets-sheer 1 iNvxzN-ron LEGN (BARMER BYv Alm MM..

` AGENT 'F11-ed April 19, 11965 Oct 351, 1967 L. CARLIER 3,349,721

AER IAL TRAMWAYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .AGENT AERIAL TRAMWAYS Leon Carlier, Chelles, France, assigner to Societe Fives Lille-Cail, Paris, France Filed Apr. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 449,163 Claims priority, application France, Apr. 21, 1964,

971,621 6 Claims. (Cl. 104-196) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE An aerial tramway having a closed loop transport cable with a suspended counterweight for automatically tensioning the cable within a limited extent of elongation. Additionally, a take-up device is provided to compensate for elongation of the cable beyond the limit of the counterweight. The take-up device has a cable loop engaging pulley carried by a slide in a guideway, so that by incrementally moving the slide, the cable loop may be progressively lengthened. The slide is moved a step at a time by a power actuator incrementally adjustably mounted in the guideway, and removable fasteners are used to lock the slide and the power actuator in adjusted positions.

The present invention relates to aerial tramways and more particularly to such tramways in which the cars, or hoppers are supported on a support cable and transported by means of a driven closed loop traction cable.

In aerial tramway installation, in which a cable spliced together to form a closed loop is used for traction, the loop is passed over pulleys or sheaves, one of which is usually driven and the others .are idlers and serve essentially to maintain the direction of the cable loop. During use this cable loop stretches. In order to maintain even tension the loop close to one end or terminal station of the tramway is usually passed over a suspended pulley which has a weight attached. The pulley can move up and down, thus maintaining even tension although the transporter cable may stretch due to thermal elongation, stretch of the wire, or other causes.

Gradu-ally, during use, the cable will elongate and the weight will Iiinally hit bottom. When this situation arises an even tension wil-l no longer be maintained. In order to keep the tension i-t is necessary to cut the cable and resplice the loop, or reconnect it with a new or reset coupling. Of course, when this operation is performed the entire tramway must be shut down.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid shutdowns for shortening the cable as much as possible, that is, to avoid having to cut and reset the cable frequently.

'Each time that the cable is cut and respliced, or reconnected, the location of the cars, or in case of industrial installations, the hoppers, has to be reset because otherwise the cars or hoppers will not line up properly with respect to the terminal stations.

Brieiiy, in accordance with the present invention, one of the sheaves, preferably .at the end remote from the movable tension counterweight pulley, is adjustably mounted so that elongation of the cable beyond that compensated by the tension pulley can be compensated. Preferably, a guideway is provided and `a pulley is mounted on a block slidable on the guidew-ays. The position of the block, and thu-s the pulley, on the guideway is fixed during operation, for example by bolts. When the counterweight approaches its limit the bolts are loosened, a jack which may be a hydraulic jack is secured to the guideway and extended to move lthe block, and thus the pulley, in a direction to lengthen the path of the cable loop. The block and with it the pulley, are then lCe secured to the guideway in their new location. Thus, a jack having an extension capacity much less than the extension of the cable itself can be used, because the jack can be reset to a new location when it is desired to again move the block and with it the pulley.

The structure, organization and oper-ation of the invention will now be described more specifically in the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an aerial tramway incorporating the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a view showing theemounting of the adjustable pulley, with all unnecessary part-s omitted.

Referring now to 'F-IG. l, which illustrates the invention in connection with an industrial installation: A pair of support cables 2, 4, are secured at one end to a permanent, fixed anchorage 6. The other end of the support cable is movably supported, to maintain it under tension. Only the support for cable 4 is shown, for clarity, and it comprises a weight 8 attached to the cable and a movable support shown as a roller bearing 10. Of course, .a similar arrangement or one using pulleys and sheaves as is Well known in the art, may be used for cable 2.

Each one of cables 2, 4, supports a bogie, from which 4a car 12, 14 is suspended. The cars 12, 14 are moved along the suppport cables 2, 4, by means of a transport cable 16, secured to the cars 12, 14, and having its ends spliced, or coupled together to -form an endless, closed loop. Cable 16 is passed around a driven sheave 18, arranged at one end station, and driven by a motor as well known in the art. At the other end station cable 16 is passed over a pair of idler pulleys 28, a fixed support pulley 3i), and a pair of movable pulleys 22 which suspend a tension counterweight 20. Thus, as the length of cable 16 changes, counterweight 20 can ride 'up and down on its pulleys 22 to maintain an even tension on the transporter cable, and to maintain the cars 12, 14, properly aligned with respect to each other and. to the terminal stations.

In accordance with the present invention one of the pulleys or sheaves at the other end station, that is at the one remote from the movable and tension support, is adjustably mounted. An idler sheave 26 is `arranged as shown to provide for an adjustment loop.

Referring now to FIG. 2, sheave 24 is secured to a block 32, slidable in a guideway formed by a pair of support beams 34. Support beams 34 may be I-beams, rails, or the like, or any suitable structural member providing a guideway for block 32. Also secured to the guideway 34 is a jack 3e, which preferably is a hydraulic jack. Its position with respect to the pulley is determined by bolts 38, schematically shown on the drawing. Block 32 itself is ordinarily maintained on the guideway supports 32 by bolts or pins 40.

lf the stretch of cable 16 reaches a value requiring, for example resetting the positions of the cars 12, 14, with respect to the transport cable, bolts or pins 40l are removed and the jack 36 is operated in order to move the pulley in a direction to decrease the etiective length of the cable, that is downwardly in the drawing, FIG. 2. This has the eiiect of raising the counterweight 20' on pulleys 22 at the other terminal end of the aerial tramway, and thus to modify and reset the positions of the cars. After having moved the block 32, it is secured in its new position on the guideway 34. The jack 36 can then be removed from its location on the guideway 34, and a new position for the jack established. It is not necessary that the jack be permanently secured to the guideways 34, since it is needed only to move the block 32.

Various positions of pulley 24 are illustrated in FIG. 2 in dotted lines. It can be seen that the total displacement of pulley 24 may be substantially in excess of the length of the displacement of jack 2. For example, for an aerial tramway it is possible to arrange guideways 34 in such a manner that the displacement of pulley 24 may be in the order of ten feet, although the jack 36 may only have a displacement of one foot. The jack is moved up against the block each time that a new displacement of the pulley is desired. Instead of a jack, of course, one may use other mechanical, pneumatical hydraulic arrangements, electric motors and the like. The guideways 34 may be vertical, horizontal, or inclined, as space consideration permit. The movable sheave 24 may also be supported by other means on its guideway, for example by a pivoting lever, by a parallelogram or pantagraph arrangement, or the like.

Rather than adjusting the position of pulley 24, it is also possible to adjust the position of pulley 3l), at the end where the movable tension pulleys 22 are located, but in that case adjustment of the position of the pulley 30 does not automatically permit adjustment of the relative positions of cars 12, 13, because the only effect is to raise the position of the counterweight. Neverthless, if space and layout conditions require, the time between shortening and resplicing of the cable is substantially increased.

The invention -is not limited to industrial or passenger aerial tramways, but is directed to aerial cable transport arrangements in general, and modifications of the arrangement may be made without departing from the inventive concept.

I claim:

1. In an aerial tramway, the combination of a closed loop transport cable, a suspended counterweight operatively connected to said cable for automatically tensioning the same to the extent of elongation compensated for by movement of the counterweight from its raised to its lowered position, and incrementally adjustable take-up means compensating for elongation of the cable beyond the extent compensated for by the counterweight, said take-up means comprising a fixedly mounted elongated guideway, a slide movable along said guideway, a pulley carried by said slide, a loop of said cable engaging said pulley, the slide with the pulley being incrementally Inovable along the guideway in a direction to raise said counterweight from its lowered to its raised position, removable fastener means securing said slide in an adjusted position on the guideway, and a power actuator for incrementally moving the slide from one adjusted position to the next. when said fastener means are removed.

2. The device as defined in claim. 1 wherein said power actuator has an effective operational span corresponding substantially to one incremental adjustment of the slide along the guideway, said actuator being incrementally adjustably mounted on the guideway for repeatedly actuating said slide in successive incrementally adjusted positions of the latter, and removable fastener means securing said actuator in an adjusted position on said guideway.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said tramway has two terminal stations with stretches of said cable extending therebetween, said counterweight being operatively connected to the cable at one of said stations and said adjustable take-up means cooperating with the cable at the other of said stations.

4. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said power actuator comprises a fluid pressure operated jack reacting between said guideway and said slide.

5. In an aerial tramway, the combination of a closed loop transport cable, a suspended counterweight operatively connected to said cable for automatically tensioning the same to the extent of elongation compensated by movement of the counterweight from its raised to its lowered position, and incrementally adjustable take-up means compensating for elongation of the cable beyond the extent compensated for by the counterweight, said takeup means comprising a fixedly mounted elongated support, a block, removable fastener means securing said block to said support selectively at points spaced longitudinally of the support, a pulley carried by said block, a loop of said cable engaging said pulley whereby said counterweight may be raised from its lowered to its raised position when the block is re-positioned longitudinally from point on the support to the next, and a power actuator for incrementally re-positoning the block on the support when said fastener means are removed.

6. The device as defined in claim 5 wherein said power actuator has an effective operational span corresponding substantially to the longitudinal distance between two adjacent points of securing of said block to said support, and removable fastener means securing said power actuator to the support selectively at points spaced longitudinally of the support, whereby the actuator may be re-positioned for repeatedly re-positioning said block at successive positions of the latter.

References 'Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ll/l883 Lighthall 10'4-196- 5/1908 Hibbard 104-196 

1. IN AN AERIAL TRAMWAY, THE COMBINATION OF A CLOSED LOOP TRANSPORT CABLE, A SUSPENDED COUNTERWEIGHT OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID CABLE FOR AUTOMATICALLY TENSIONING THE SAME TO THE EXTENT OF ELONGATION COMPENSATED FOR BY MOVEMENT OF THE COUNTERWEIGHT FROM ITS RAISED TO ITS LOWERED POSITION, AND INCREMENTALLY ADJUSTABLE TAKE-UP MEANS COMPENSATING FOR ELONGATION OF THE CABLE, BEYOND THE EXTENT COMPENSATED FOR BY THE COUNTERWEIGHT, SAID TAKE-UP MEANS COMPRISING A FIXEDLY MOUNTED ELONGATED GUIDEWAY, A SLIDE MOVABLE ALONG SAID GUIDEWAY, A PULLEY CARRIED BY SAID SLIDE, A LOOP OF SAID CABLE ENGAGING SAID PULLEY, THE SLIDE WITH THE PULLEY BEING INCREMENTALLY MOVABLE ALONG THE GUIDEWAY IN A DIRECTION TO RAISE SAID COUNTERWEIGHT FROM ITS LOWERED TO ITS RAISED POSITION, REMOVABLE FASTENER MEANS SECURING SAID SLIDE IN AN ADJUSTED POSITION ON THE GUIDEWAY, AND A POWER ACTUATOR FOR INCREMENTALLY MOVING THE SLIDE FROM ONE ADJUSTED POSITION TO THE NEXT WHEN SAID FASTENER MEANS ARE REMOVED. 